Hmm... that does sound a bit strange then. But I've now
been given a name for the lecturer, so I'll get in touch
with him.

Update: Ok, so the lecturer didn't know the
student or the coursework. So I investigated a little
further. The email I received came from a Yahoo address,
but the header listed the IP address that it came from.
This is in range owned by the University of Zimbabwe in
Harare. I've now got in touch with their Computer Science
department and am waiting for a reply.

virtualsue has just pointed out that the node on top
of the Worst nodes list asks exactly the same
question. And it was posted at the same time last year.
Coincidence?

Update 2: I've just heard back from Dr Rose
Shumba, the chair of the Computer Science at the University
of Zimbabwe. She's on sabbatical in the US, but is very
interested in the information and will pass it on to the
acting chair to take appropriate action.